An Interview With Khary: The Achievements and Milestones of an Alternative Rapper in 2024
Image courtesy of @imstill.developing
I was lucky enough to speak with Los Angeles/Rhode Island-based alternative hip-hop artist Khary, with whom I discussed his vast discography, writing process and mentorship, among other things. Having been involved in the music industry for almost ten years, working with various producers and other artists, Khary has constantly and unabashedly experimented with different sounds and genres, including traditional classic hip-hop, alternative rock, R&B and hyperpop – just to name a few. Touring with various artists in the past few years, such as Abhi The Nomad and GRIP, Khary has proven himself to be a key voice in the forthcoming alternative-rap genre that has started to pop up more and more within the last decade – and he makes it clear that he doesn’t plan on stopping soon. His most recent EP, Life Is Weird with YOG$ is where we decided to begin our conversation, bridging and connecting his writing and music-making processes with where he is right now in his career.
Jonah Gershovich: Your latest EP release was Life is Weird, where you collaborated almost exclusively with producer YOG$, and in the past you collaborated exclusively with Lege Kale for your Tidal Graves EP. What does it take for you to work with one producer on an entire EP, and how does that shape your goals for the studio session and writing process?
Khary: Tidal Graves was a bit different because Lege had produced “Find Me” off of Intern Aquarium, and we also had the same manager at the time, so when he would start coming to New York, the timing worked out – so we just thought it would be a good idea. It was my first foray into doing that and it was a hard process for sure, and I wasn’t really used to recording in-studio sessions since before moving to L.A., I would usually just write over beats people would send me. I swore after that I wouldn’t do it again, due to how difficult the process was, but through living in L.A., I got a lot better. A Desperate Attempt To Love Everything is kind of that again, since my homie Mike Irish produced almost all of that album. After that, I also said I wasn’t going to do it again since I didn’t want one person to dictate my sound. Granted, he’s really good, I just didn’t want that. Me and YOG$ had so many songs together and I feel his simplistic hip-hop production style compliments me very well, so it made sense to do that again.
JG: Going into A Desperate Attempt To Love Everything, I feel everything on that album is so well placed and exactly where it needs to be in terms of storyline and what you’re communicating to the audience. What did the conception of that album look like, and knowing you teased “You Say” for years, was that song always supposed to be on the album?
Khary: I came up with the title in 2018, since I usually like to come up with titles before creating the actual project. After moving back to Rhode Island after 7 years in New York, I was still going to sessions there since Mike had opened up a studio (at the time he was more of my engineer rather than my producer), and the timing lined up for me. Those first few sessions were where we made the songs “Purple Dye,” “August Warm” and one more I can’t remember. The whole time I was kind of like “This isn’t my usual sound, but I guess there’s something here?” And I kept leaving the sessions being like, “I don’t know what I’m gonna do with these songs but I’m making them,” and he would get annoyed because I kept saying that so much. After some more sessions, we had a second batch of songs, which “Waves” and “Obvious” were both a part of, and we kind of were like, “Ok I guess we’re starting to make something here,” and I brought back the title I had created before. I knew “You Say” was gonna be on there immediately, and Mike didn’t see it at first but he caught on pretty quickly. Over the next four years after I moved to LA, I would go back to New York for a week at a time and we would chisel away at the album and make edits, and the narrative around a coming-of-age reflective journey specifically coming from a male perspective – based on my experience, started to form.
JG: In a lot of your music, both in your older and more recent songs (In parts of A Desperate Attempt to Love Everything with “You Say” and on Intern Aquarium with “Guitar Hero”) there is a layer of self-deprecation within their meanings and the stories they tell, but they often feel aided by a sense of humor and irony within the tone and lyrics. Although it often changes depending on the song or subject material, you tend to either give yourself credit to some degree or question your actions leading up to the moments you discuss. How do you find the balance? What is your writing process like? How does an idea find the right beat, and how is it developed into a final product that fits your distinct vision?
K: The way I approach my personal music, in general, is trying to avoid tackling topics in ways that have been done before, while at the same time trying to keep them as honest and human as possible. So with “You Say,” for example, in this womanizer-type song, I’m accepting that I’m a piece of shit in the situation while being honest with my thought process throughout the verses. Not only in how I write a song, but honest in terms of “these are things I said and thoughts I’ve had” and sometimes maybe it’s something I’ve seen [depicted] in some movie or show or maybe a podcast I listen to. But all around, I’m really trying to make interesting shit out of regular shit. These are human experiences and things I feel like or have realized a lot of men go through in their lives as well, and at the same time, when it comes to articulating these experiences, I have a hard time taking myself super seriously. For example, a lot of rappers will put on a character with perfect rap hands and perfect cadences and I’m not that, and I think there’s a part of me that rejects that, and as much as I wish I could accept that I can’t [be that person], so I feel that in this braggadocious song about hooking up, I have to be honest and humble myself in a way while bringing it down to earth. You know, part of being honest like that is admitting [that] sometimes those things don’t last that long, and trying to subvert the norm when it comes to talking about those kinds of relationships in rap music. At the end of the day, I’m honest about the things that are real and I’m always trying to keep it human.
Image courtesy of Jonathan Benavente
JG: When it comes to finding oneself in the music industry, it’s clear that a lot of people get to where they are through meaningful conversation, guidance and advice from other mentor figures in the industry. Who have been some of those figures for you? Do you feel that as you get older and grow more into your thirties, as a musician, you can provide the same? Are you at that point now?
K: That’s a good question. I wish I had more mentors over the years for music, and I honestly didn’t really have that many. My mentors and the mentorship that I gained as a musician was simply through watching other artists who I admire, and learning game through them and how they approach things. That’s really what I look up to and for me, when I needed to talk to someone or if I felt lost in my mind, I would just watch and interview with an artist. I have some interviews that I’ve watched and gone back to three to five times and I still find myself doing that. Right now, I’m in a 50 Cent phase, where I’ve just been listening to interviews and audiobooks that he has for the past few days. I do wish I had more real-life mentors, but at the same time, I feel that now you can kind of find it yourself – given how accessible things are on the internet, and how widespread that information is. Personally, I don’t think I’m where I want to be yet, so it’s hard for me to provide mentorship for others, although I do think there’s information I can pass down. Mentorship for me is something I want to hopefully be a part of for someone, but as a person, I’m very “do it yourself” and I kind of try to keep that “figure that shit out” mentality. I see myself as the tough love dad-figure in a way. When it comes to that stuff my outlook is: “Oh, you fell off your bike. That’s ok. Cry for a minute and get back on.” That’s just how I am as a person and how I’ve learned things, but recently I have had to kind of re-learn and consider the fact that this doesn’t work for everybody and that it isn’t always the best way to go about things. I do find myself giving advice and helping out people, but a lot of the time it’s people who are getting it and trying. I have friends of mine in music who are going on to work on big albums with huge artists and I give them advice because I see that they’re already moving. I’m not a great square one mentor, but I kind of see approaching mentorship in the same way that Kobe Bryant spoke about it, where I have to see the momentum they have and I also have to see that they think like I do, and are crazy in the same way. I do feel that there are so many skills you learn from doing it yourself, and although I do wish I had more mentors, I can continue to use those skills even if I were to stop making music tomorrow.
“I have friends of mine in music who are going on to work on big albums with huge artists and I give them advice because I see that they’re already moving. I’m not a great square one mentor, but I kind of see approaching mentorship in the same way that Kobe Bryant spoke about it, where I have to see the momentum they have and I also have to see that they think like I do, and are crazy in the same way. I do feel that there are so many skills you learn from doing it yourself, and although I do wish I had more mentors, I can continue to use those skills even if I were to stop making music tomorrow.”
While speaking on upcoming projects and shows, Khary says that his latest EP uhhh 3 is ready and will be released sometime soon. He also hints at an upcoming tour in the fall. In his words, “If you see it, you see it. If you don’t, then you don’t.”